this sux
|
Posted:Dec 23, 2007 9:25 am
Last Updated:May 17, 2008 7:12 pm
2972 Views
|
this site is no good if you have a tendency toward depression. I see so many beautiful people all across this beautiful world. But my only access to them is this 17" diagonal piece of glass.
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
Congratulations Ken and Beth!
|
Posted:Dec 17, 2007 7:50 am
Last Updated:Jan 9, 2008 2:35 pm
3034 Views
|
Here's a pic from Ken and Beth's wedding (corvairguy,DelicateSub77). Click on it and it gets big enough to almost see something! They got married in September. Yes I know it's now December. I suck.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
LMO Dining Etiquette
|
Posted:Dec 15, 2007 5:58 pm
Last Updated:Nov 28, 2009 3:54 pm
4265 Views
|
The thing which makes the Mansion most unique in my opinion is the wide *variety* of dishes in it's buffet. The diverse residents bring diverse cuisine to our table. Some of the difficulties I have as maitre-d is reminding patrons we are NOT about any one type of entree. Some dishes are very low calorie, which is popular amongst those watching their "figures". While other dishes are meaty and full of flavor. And some have even been known to induce hangovers if one tries to consume too much too fast. It's all good. Because of the magnitude of this all-you-can-eat spread, I will attempt to divulge some tips, for those new comers as well as some regulars experiencing indigestion....
Firstly, while it is tempting, you are not *required* to sample every dish. If something looks like it is not going to play well with your dietary restrictions it's perfectly OK to just move on and see what's inside the next casserole.
The corollary, please do not be offended if your offering only gets a small nibble. Some people don't like rice cakes, and others can't handle the cayenne. All contributions are appreciated.
Next, the polite pot-luck connoisseur will check what others have already brought before poorly placing their own. If someone else has poured heart and soul into their special three-bean pasta salad, perhaps your five-bean can wait in the car for a little while, no? Once most patrons have had their fill and are looking for seconds (it doesn't take as long as you might think), producing yours will be an instant success.
It's also good to try to get a feel of the overall trend. If the table is currently dessert heavy, then even if there is no other cheesecake right now, it might still be better to try guacamole dip instead.
Over indulgence carries fewer consequences here than in 3D space, and is somewhat encouraged. But in the extreme it can still cause health issues. Know your limits and don't be afraid to stick by them.
Self imposed diets should be discouraged. Breaking wind and other social faux-pas, while embarrassing are not as horrible as it might seem. We're a family not a job interview. As long as you are not being overly vulgar, it's OK to enjoy yourself. And on the flip side, if someone has polluted your air space, it's OK to move to a different seat (quietly). If someone doesn't get the hint, tell them POLITELY to consider maalox.
Many diners here have know each other far too long. Occasionally one may throw a roll at the other. This is NOT an indication to start an all out free-for-all food fight. Sometimes one member may instinctually know the other REALLY needed a roll up side the head. Sometimes free-for-all food fights will be acceptable if the mood is right. If you are unsure if the mood is right, you have not been here long enough to start a food fight. Throwing plates will not be tolerated very long. Do NOT get inbetween people throwing plates. I will risk my limbs if and when necessary. Also note, encouraging such behavior will be tolerated even less.
This got alot longer than I intended, we have more etiquette than I realized. But I think I covered it all.
Oh yeah, and Ron is a V.I.P. don't steal his seat.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Priority Bugz
|
Posted:Dec 15, 2007 5:12 pm
Last Updated:Jan 1, 2008 9:27 am
2180 Views
|
I smell an opportunity here. With the recent sale supposedly Andrew will be rededicating 100% to Senior Sizzle. Based on my past experiences with him and his blog, I believe he genuinely *intends* to do the things he says, when he says them. But he gets inundated by the magnitude of responses, gets swamped and shuts down. So...with that in mind, I'd like to have our shit together as they say so when he announces his glorious return we can be first in line before he gets buried alive. I'll be using this post as a scratch pad. I can use the edit feature to update the following list based on suggestions people post below. What is below this line is not written in stone and changes based upon input. GOTD, can I lean on you to help me prioritize blog issues into this list? I don't want to make it too heavy handed in favor of groups, but that's what I know best.
Priority "Bugz" and other Fixes for the Senior Sizzle system.
- Accurate, efficient, and reliable ban and unban functions.
- A ban by username function which *always* adds a typed-in username regardless of their current join/unjoin state and profile visibility.
- In group posts, there is a ban/unban link under the pic of each poster. This link often turns into an empty set of brackets [] because the word "ban" or "unban" is not properly within the A tag. This occurs frequently and takes forever to fix again despite the relative simplicity of the hiccup.
- The ban/unban link in the View Members list disappears in a similar fashion.
- The Ban-by-username and Unban-by-username functions are notoriously quirky. Mods/Assmods frequently get the "You can't ban a moderator." erroneous error when the individual they are trying to ban is NOT any kind of mod.
- Reliability should include thorough testing on both IE and Firefox at the minimum. Ideally Opera, Safari, Netscape(AOL), and??? should also be checked periodically. That is just a reality of designing for the web.
- Associate Mods should have the same capabilities as Mods. That seemed to be the original intention, but actual implementation has been very "buggy".
- Assmods should be able to clear the chatroom.
- Assmods should be able to ban anyone except the mod.
- Assmods cannot reliably access the list of banned members page this causes several problems:
- the Ban-member-by-username box is on that page.
- the Unban-member-by-username box is on that page.
- Assmods can never unban anyone if they cannot even access the list.
- Assmods should be able to edit group settings and update description. If the group becomes spontaneously denied because of an erroneous error (see below) the assmods cannot fix it. Everyone must wait for the mod. The assmod group_settings page would need to differ only in that the assign a new mod box shouldn't be there.
- Rite of succession. If a mod leaves and deletes their profile (or a system glitch deletes it for them
 ) the function which chooses a replacement mod should check for the existence of an assmod first before using the fickled_finger_of_fate method.
- The option to simply Remove a user from a group in addition to ban. Exactly the same as if the user had unjoined. Such that they may return at a later time if they choose. Having ban be the only option just doesn't cut it. Many people feel slighted by being banned and will not bother requesting that the mod unban them such that they can rejoin. This can lead to resentment, which leads to other unsavory behavior. Being able to choose between banning a member and simply removing them would solve many other non-technical "problems".
- Chat issues, some affect the dedicated chatting areas, some group chat rooms, most affect both.
- Reliability still needs improvement, particularly in the main chat area.
- It is still a frequent occurrence that individuals get dropped from a chat and cannot rejoin for a time. (both)
- There is still no effective means of controlling repeat abusers. After X number of "iggy's" to the same individual, they need a "vacation".
- (group) Chat rooms should have something similar to a sticky post or short description section where mods can list rules for using the chat room. Such as that people should post and contribute to the group first before going straight to chat looking to "hook up". Most groups, topical especially, do not appreciate that. Which causes member conflicts, drama for the whole site, and constant Abuse Team requests.
- Posting Requirements could perhaps be expanded to include an X number of post before allowed to chat function.
- Group Denied by erroneous errors. The filters for group approval need to be tweaked to not be so over-zealous. Malicious individuals use the Request Review feature to exploit this bug and disable group when the mod may not be around to fix it.
- Nearly any group that has a numbered list of group rules will get "Denied" by the phone_number Erroneous Error.
- Denial due to Personal_contact_info occurs if you mention towns/cities/states. That's a real stickler for local groups.
- The mysterious "bad words" list. Since group descriptions tend to be long they can rack up a number of "bad words" unintentionally because they may not mean the same thing in context. A bad word density function should be used instead of bad word count. (same for posts too for that matter).
- Profile Testimonials should be filtered. Currently people exploit testimonials to broadcast IM/email contact info.
- Using-bling-as-a-background feature no longer works.
- Network Friends cannot view people's photo galleries. A new "feature" allows for the assigning of a friend category to photo albums. The new feature is ill explained. Plus the default selection is unpredictable. This results in many people not being able to view photo albums they once could, and much confusion. The photo albums should default to All and an announcement should be made about the new capabilities to selectively reduce it's visibility from there. (Does anyone know if this is still an issue??? It appears to be OK to *me* but I don't use it much.)
- Phantom Associate Members.
There are some conflicts between user privacy (profiles turned off) and a moderator's ability to manage large groups and troublesome users (who turn off their profiles solely to circumvent mod features). This is a policy thing not a bug per se. However, there are also some legitimate bugs which are being overlooked because CS simply replies "this is a feature" to every complaint because of forementioned policy.
- When viewing the Associate Members list there are often "blank" pages near the end of the list. This is because it counts members and divides by 50 to determine the number of pages BEFORE it checks profile visibility. It should paginate after stripping the invisibles. This affects any membership list, Active, Associate, or Banned.
- Mods should be able to remove members even if they can't see them. Perhaps something like is in the Friends Network. Or it should be an optional restriction mods can set in the groups settings that profile visibility is req'd same as age or distance from X city requirements.
- The 1,000 "bonus" associates bug. Several groups *spontaneously* acquire approx 900-1,000 extra invisible associate overnight. CS insists these are just turned off profiles. 1000 people join a group, then turn off their profile, in a matter of hours or less??? c'mon. One group in particular had 8 assocs one day, and 1,004 assocs the next??? And several groups have experienced this same phenomenon. Plus it is consistently coupled with several other chain reaction bugs:
- Suddenly having over 1000 members the group gets automatic posting req's which cannot be disabled by any known method.
- The View Associates link becomes disabled. So mods are powerless to do anything about the legit ones that keep piling up.
- The yellow "Posting Requirements" box disappears from the groups description, so members don't even know these hidden requirements exist nor what they are. Posting Req's can still be changed by mod on the group_settings page, but it's unclear what effect that has if any.
- Post Requirements could be expanded to include an X number of posts before removal.
- The three day Noob Taboo. A feature was added such that individuals who have newly signed up for the site can only be veiwed by Gold memebers. Certain unsavory types exploit this by constantly creating new accounts. Many mods are standard members. They contribute significant time to the site even if they don't pay. Especially in some larger groups, not being able to veiw a new members profile for 3 days can give an undesirable a big head start in sewing seeds. Mods need *some* (perhaps limited) access to their members' info despite their membership level. It would also be nice if mods had a cabability to email members of their group regardless of their own "popularity priviledgs" or not.
- Cat Burglars. When a user enters someone's blog thru the "front door" (by clicking on their blog from the home page) they show as a Recent Visitor. However, there are many "side doors" people use to view your blog without leaving an "imprint". This means you cannot tell they've been there, and more importantly you cannot block them if it is a stalker or other such undesirable. Ideally veiwing any blog page in any manner should register them at the front desk too. Including:
- Arriving at a specific blog page thru a BBCode direct link.
- Going to someone's blog via their profile.
- Arriving at a specific blog page found via search results.
- Clicking View My Blog from group posts (I think this one works right ne1 know?)
- A corolary also exists in the groups Recent Visitors box as well
- Database integrity checks. There are constant small hiccups which affect individual accounts. CS can usually fix these by "resetting" a person's profile? How does a profile become corrupted in the first place??? That implies there's no error checking built into the database, hard to believe.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
|
|
suckiness
|
Posted:Sep 18, 2007 7:36 am
Last Updated:May 17, 2008 7:12 pm
2890 Views
|
I don't like to bitch and whine and do the whole "woe is me" thing, but what's a blog for, right?
So my job really has me at wit's end. Because of the way I get paid ("incentive system") my pay rate has been steadily dropping due to several systematic changes over the past year or so. Mostly the last 9-6mos. So my pay is dropping, at the same time things like ins premiums, rent, gas keep going up. Because it's a refrigerated warehouse I get sick alot and have missed alot of time. At this point they keep threatening to fire me over my "attendance issue". Which prolly half the selection force is in the same boat far as I know. So they've made me get a dr's note, which I did. But I keep asking myself why I'm bothering. Their attitude is not helping my stress levels any, which in turn only makes me sick more. I think losing this job might be a blessing in disguise waiting to happen. But there's a couple reasons I can't just up and quit on my own.
The biggest is that, even with my pay dropping as it has, it's still a few dollar/hr higher than any starting wage I'll find elsewhere. Not nearly as good as it has been, but still barely better than starting over. Tho if I weren't sick every other week and had a reliable 40hrs every week to budget on it might not matter so much. I'm not sure how to be sure on that one.
Next (which is a distant second) is that I have 2 weeks vaca, which will be 3 weeks next year. (I have 4 years currently). Other than that the 4 years means next to nothing. I don't get raises. You want more money, throw more boxes. But I know the building and I know several different job functions within it. That supposed to be job security ain't it?
It's a 12 minute drive from where I live.
And that's about it. In Mass I'm required health insurance from day one at any job. And I don't bother with 401(k)'s since I'm immortal. 
What to do? Should I just let myself get fired? I think that's actually my biggest hangup of all. I've NEVER been fired. I've never needed unemployment benefits. It's just not my style, and I don't feel comfy there. But the writing on the wall says it's in my own best interest. 
|
|
|
10
Comments
|
|
To link to this blog (Vampaerus) use [blog Vampaerus] in your messages.
|
|
|
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| |
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
51
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
|
